


Redemption

by SassyArtFarts



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Dash's dad is a good dad, I'm not about to tag all of them though, Mr. Lancer is dealing with dramatic children, No beta we die like illiterates, Not Phantom Planet Compliant (Danny Phantom), Other, Others show up - Freeform, THE CHARACTER DEATH IS TEMPORARY, also kinda abuse Dash too, bully redemption, gratuitous Danny abuse, monster nom nom humans, scary AF murderous villain, these kids get traumatized
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:48:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyArtFarts/pseuds/SassyArtFarts
Summary: After a vicious fight between known antagonistic pair: Danny Fenton and Dash Baxter, Mr. Lancer comes up with a way to hopefully get them on better terms as they work together preparing a restoring project of an old summer camp. However, something else watches, waiting, wanting to be restored. It's ancient, it's resentful and it'sstarving.
Relationships: Dash Baxter & Danny Fenton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	1. The Fight

Let’s make one thing clear. Danny Fenton did not like fighting. He was a pacifist; at least when it came to fellow humans. Fellow ghosts? They could take his hits and keep going, without even a flinch sometimes. Humans were much more fragile. He himself was pretty darn fragile in comparison to ghosts. Fighting humans sucked. Fighting ghosts was at least something he knew well enough to control himself, and his opponent to an extent, where he wouldn’t sustain too much damage. That and the ghost wouldn’t be permanently damaged. He’d weaken them down, activate the thermos and suck ‘em up into the chamber until he could get back home and toss the losers back into the ghost zone with hardly a fuss.

Humans were far more complicated. Humans were squishy and soft and broke so, so easily. Sometimes they would never fully heal. Danny was lucky in that regard; he healed very quickly. He had more scars than the average seventeen-year-old, but they didn’t hurt; at least the lesser ones didn’t, some of the deeper scars still twitched with memories of the pain, but that was easy to handle.

This fight, was one of the more complicated kind. His temper was already flaring. It was probably over something trivial, knowing how sleep deprived he’s been the last few days. This was a rough and tumble kind of battle between two teens. Sloppy, aimless and fueled with impatience more than anything else. A few spectators were rooting for either one of them, but Danny honestly didn’t care enough to find out who or why. He’d lost his temper as Dash barreled over him and battered the smaller teen with verbal abuse.

In Danny’s defense, Dash did hit first, landing a clean hit on Danny’s left cheek. The instinct to flip around and return the punch full force was too strong to rear back, and as soon as Dash looked back at him with shock, he regretted everything he did up to this point. The surprise didn’t last long though; rage replaced it almost quicker than expected, and Danny was thrown into the lockers with enough force to knock his breath from his lungs. In turn, Danny’s regret vanished and all he wanted to do was take his frustrations out on the bully in front of him.

So, to even the playing field, he jammed his knees into the jock’s stomach, slammed his heels on the lockers behind him and launched them both to the ground. Dash grabbed Danny’s shirt collar as Danny had his elbow planted firmly on the jock’s collar bone. The two grappled and snarled at each other, aggression controlling their moves more than any desire to win.

Danny was soon lifted off of Dash with strong arms wrapping around his waist, before he could land another hit. Danny thrashed for a moment snarling and spitting out everything he wanted to say to Dash, but calmed down as he noticed who was the one holding him back. Danny looked up with a surprised scowl only to see a _concerned_ expression on Kwan’s face. Kwan’s dark eyebrows furrowed, his deep green eyes glancing back and forth between the two brawlers. Dash’s best pal, by what Danny could tell, was being gentle with _him_ , Dash’s best punching bag. That stunned the smaller teen more than any of Dash’s hits ever could.

The hallway was dead silent, not even a murmur between spectators. One of Dash’s other buddies offered a hand to Dash, who was staring at Danny with an emotion close to awe.

“Mr. Fenton. Mr. Baxter.” The tone coming from Mr. Lancer’s voice was low, calm and terrifying. Kwan set Danny down and backed away as the teacher approached the two fighters. A sea of students separated for the English teacher and dispersed as quickly as they gathered. Danny wiped at his mouth and noticed it was blood instead of the spit he was suspecting. _Great, a split lip…_ Danny kept his eyes downcast, the scowl still etched into his face like a stone carving. The blood from his lip started to drip again and he bit at it, keeping the wound behind his teeth.

Mr. Lancer had that a-typical air about him: The perfected straight face with a hint of disapproval in his hazel eyes, and a nearly perfect posture despite his obvious belly. Danny cringed inwardly as Mr. Lancer gestured with the papers he previously had under his arm.


	2. On Their Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The punishment for their actions, and character introductions.

Both boys were sitting quietly in the teacher’s office. Danny, curled up in a ball on the chair, was doing his best to avoid seeing any piece of the boy next to him. Dash suddenly realized _this_ was how Danny could stand being in his locker for long periods of time their Freshman year; he could make himself ridiculously tiny.

This was Lancer’s silent treatment. The quiet, still, air as he went through papers. Every once in a he’d glance up at the boys with a judgmental look, that would even make Skulker shrink uncomfortably. There was a cold, heavy swirling of guilt and frustration settled in the pit of Danny’s stomach as he studied the very interesting details of a blank wall. He was used to Lancer and his judgmental scowls, but he was hoping he could avoid this situation his Junior year. But, alas, there he was, burying his head in his knees again, regretting every decision he made that day. His cheek hurt, and the metallic taste of blood was rich and bitter as he nursed the cut on his lip with his tongue. There was a deep sigh and the sound of paper being patted into order on the desk Lancer was sitting at.

“I must say, boys. I thought the both of you came a long way from Freshman year, but it just seems you’ve gotten worse.”

“It’s actually about the same…” Danny muttered under his breath. He heard Dash’s breath hitch at the comment as he scoffed at him. Danny could _feel_ the scowl coming from Dash.

“You’ve never done _that_ before.” Dash growled, “You usually just take it.” He laughed quietly, but stopped short. Danny’s head shot up and he scowled back at Dash with a slight growl in his throat.

“Boys!” Lancer slammed his hands on his desk and stood up, staring both teenagers down. Dash shrunk back slightly and looked at Lancer, but Danny, he just resumed his brooding position from before, memorizing the blank wall again. “This latest offence however, has sparked an idea.” Lancer began and sat back down. “Instead of detention for a week after spring break.” He looked between the boys, Danny with a visible cringe and Dash flinching. “We need two volunteers for the renovation project up at the mountain camp _during_ spring break.” He tapped his fingers on the packets of papers he was fiddling with earlier. The pit of Danny’s stomach dropped. He looked up with horror and Mr. Lancer put his hands up gesturing calmly.

“It’s a small project at the moment, we just need to monitor the amount of damage to get all the numbers in order. It’ll take less than a week at most.” Danny felt like he was going to lose his lunch. Mr. Lancer handed a packet to each teen; both taking them reluctantly. “All the information you need is in those packets. You both have until tomorrow to make up your minds and talk with your parents.” Lancer paused to assure he had the attention of both teens “I suggest taking up this offer boys.” Lancer adjusted his shirt collar a little and his face softened ever so slightly. Danny knew that face pretty well, after seeing the man have mercy on his students countless times. “This volunteer work will look better on your records.” He finished, standing up and heading toward the door. Danny, still curled up, glanced down at the packet with cutesy decorations on the sides and a logo for the renovation society in Amity Park. Sam had talked about that place before; volunteered there a few times herself. Danny sunk back a little as he read over the rules and what he needed to bring and so on. He noticed the top of the requirements was a ten dollar fee and reached for his wallet in his back pocket.

“Well, not like I could go to that movie marathon anyways.” He mused to himself. Dash was already out of the office, huffing to himself something snarky, but Danny didn’t really care to notice what he was saying. He flipped through the few pages of the packet. He looked over most of it without really caring for all the details. It was mainly legal stuff and a piece of tear-off paper for the parents to sign away their consent.

“You’re going to be late for your last class, Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Lancer commented, holding the door for the boy.

“Sorry.” Danny mumbled before getting up to leave.

“Mr. Fenton.” Danny turned to face the teacher of a thousand second chances. “I commend you for standing up for yourself, but next time, don’t take it so far.” He patted Danny’s shoulder and the boy nodded silently, leaving the teacher behind, who sighed a little before closing his door.

“Ouch, dude…” Tucker looked over his friend’s face ignoring the annoyed eye roll. “He got you pretty good.” Danny leaned away and swatted Tucker’s hands away.

“Yes, thank you Doctor Foley.” He fussed. Sam came down the porch steps of Fenton Works with an icepack and a red-headed older sister in tow.

“Heard you stood up to the Baxter, little brother.” Jazz sat on the other side of the beat up seventeen-year-old as he gingerly placed the pack to his still sore cheek. “I thought the bullying slowed down to a dull roar lately.” She rested her elbow on her knees and tilted her head, studying her brother’s face. He sighed, trying to avoid her gaze, but gave in.

“Every once in a while he kind of just assaults me verbally, but…” He sighed a bit, putting more weight on his sore cheek. “He pushed a few buttons, I shot back with my own stupid come-back and he punched me.” Danny winced and licked his lower lip. “I guess I bit my lip at that moment.”

“Makes sense.” Jazz mused. Danny sighed and stared at the street ahead of him, watching the cars drive by. His mind drifted to the little packet in his backpack, probably crumpled at the bottom of his bag due to his rushed shoving of folders and books at the end of the day. A four day trip up to a camp a hundred-ish miles from the one by lake Eerie, huh? Sounds like another nightmare in the making, but he was willing to go through that instead of a weeks detention after spring break to look forward to. “You going to take up the offer?” Jazz’s face held her usual concerned expression. Danny put down the ice pack and dug through his backpack to look over the surprisingly undamaged packet.

“It’s a pretty decent deal, even if it is spending four days with Dash and Lancer in the same cabin.” Danny tapped the packet on his knees in thought, going over a few things to bring for protection. He sighed thinking of the fact that he might have to protect at least two unsuspecting people from possible ghosts crashing the party.

“You can probably bring the portable ghost shield prototype.” Jazz offered, practically reading her brother’s body language. “It’s a bit clunky, but it still works.”

“That’s a good idea.” Danny mumbled, holding his head in his hand. He ran his fingers through his raven hair and ruffled it a bit. “I’ll bring a couple of wrist ray guns too, just in case, and the thermos obviously.” He closed his eyes and rubbed at his right eye a bit. He sighed and leaned back against the steps, looking up at the clouds just beyond the gigantic sign flashing his last name to the cosmos. “I’m going to hate this…” He mused aloud making Tucker snicker and pat his shoulder.

“You’ll be fine.”

The weekend went by way too fast in Danny’s opinion. He was packed, his homework for the break was done, aside from the required reading, and he was ready to fly off into oblivion before Lancer’s car would drive up. Unfortunately, the car was already close to the front porch Danny was perched on and he watched it slow down and park in front of him before standing up. He slung his bag over his shoulder and backpack, opened the door, quietly greeted the two in the car and slipped in the back seat.

“Packing light Mr. Fenton?” Lancer looked at Danny from his rear-view mirror and Danny nodded politely.

“Yes, sir.” He was in no mood to chat, and was glad he had the blessing of the back seat to himself, with Dash in the passenger seat. He could watch the world go by in silence, and the other two didn’t seem very chatty either. Dash had his earphones in, and Mr. Lancer was checking his GPS and listening intently to the directions as buildings of the heart of Amity Park faded into the distance. Danny marveled at the scene change from buildings to plains to trees being so quick. He decided Dash had an alright idea, and plugged in his own ear buds to listen to some music on his phone. His mind wandered a bit to some memories the last time he was stuck doing something with Dash and they all either ended in embarrassment, revulsion or something ghost related. Danny paused and scrunched up his face. Or all three… He let out a small sigh and rested his head against the window. The road was a little rough, but he oddly enjoyed the small bumping of his head against the glass.

“You asleep over there?” Came a soft whisper in a familiar voice. Danny didn’t bother to turn his head, he knew it was Youngblood.

“Nah.” Danny responded. It was weird talking to ghosts in their own language. It was like he couldn’t hear them or himself, but he could _feel_ the words. Tucker had some weird, very horribly punny, term for it, but Danny couldn’t remember. He stuck with Ghost Telepathy. It made sense to him and it explained enough where he wouldn’t feel like some psycho trying to explain it to the ghosts that wanted to converse with the halfa without bothering any humans.

“You wanna’ play?” Young was bouncing up and down, Danny could see him in the window’s reflection. Danny shrugged and huffed his hair away from his eyes.

“I donno. I’m so entertained with these two.” Danny gestured sarcastically towards the quiet duo ahead of him. Danny gained a new little trick over the last year. He made a clone to sit in his spot, went invisible and floated up to sit on the roof of the car in ghost form. Youngblood hooted with joy and bolted up to join Phantom.

“It’s been _ages,_ Phantom! AGES!” Young flew right up into Danny’s face.

“It has not.” Danny rolled his eyes “You’re just bored.” Young pouted indignantly.

“Whatever, dude.” He huffed and adjusted his cowboy hat. “We should play tag!” he pulled out his sling shot “With the buzzards!” He laughed loud enough for Dash and Lancer to look around curiously. Danny’s clone had to stifle his laughter at their horrified expressions.

“Keep it down, or the two in the car will start freaking out.” Danny huffed playfully and spotted a couple of “buzzards” as Youngblood called them floating around, picking on the wildlife. “What are they even doing?” Danny groaned, watching the obnoxious blobs fly into the houses scattered around the forest and making people shriek in horror.

“Being dumb.” Youngblood laughed and bolted after them. “We’re it!” He shouted.

“That’s not how tag works!” Danny yelled back as he hopped of the moving car and headed toward the group of ghosts.

“It’s totally how tag works.” Youngblood argued seeing Danny right behind him. “Seen it with lasers!” Danny paused and blinked a little before nearly snorting at the fact that Youngblood wanted to play laser tag in a cowboy outfit. Youngblood let out a whistle and the group of ghosts stopped to look. It clicked with Danny that they knew Youngblood when they whistled back and scattered.

“Catch us if you can!” They shouted, laughing. They were kids!

“Whoever catches the most wins!” Youngblood hollered at Danny and bolted after the one he was closest to.

“You’re on!” Danny’s grin could be categorized as terrifying depending on whose side you’re on. He took off so fast the three little ones he snagged barely had time to shriek before he was after the fourth.

“Whoa!” One of them laughed, holding onto Danny’s back. “You’re fast!”

“Are you that halfa??” another, clinging to his arm asked.

“That’s me.” Danny smiled. “You guys play with Youngblood a lot?”

“Only when we’re out.” The third, in Danny’s left arm, answered. Danny reached out and tackled the fourth, making all of them shriek and tumble around laughing as he landed.

“We’re out a lot though! So, yeah!” The fourth finished, how’d they even know what the others were talking about?

“Awe man!” Youngblood was heard not too far away. He flew up to the sprawled out group with the last two.

“I win.” Danny beamed.

“Dang…” Youngblood crossed his arms in defeat and pouted. Then, out of nowhere the six little blobs merged into one small child ghost with blond, scruffy hair, a missing front tooth, and overalls. Danny blinked in surprise at the kid in front of him. The child held their overalls straps with their thumbs and grinned.

“I’m Tessie!” they announced, offering a hand. “I’m the watcher of these here parts.”

“Danny.” He introduced himself “Though, I’m guessing you already knew that.” He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and took Tessie’s hand. Tessie had a firm grip, a huge grin and shook Danny’s hand with fervor.

“Yeah! I heard about you!! Youngblood yaks about you a lot, but not nearly as much as Sydney!” Tessie beamed.

“Poindexter?!” Danny blinked and smirked. Tessie’s grin grew bigger, so much that their eyes closed tight.

“Yeah! Yeah!” they nodded so fast their hair flew about in different directions. “He thinks you’re super neat!” Danny tilted his head with wide eyes and an amused expression.

“I kinda figured he was mad at me still.” Danny rolled his shoulder, glancing away with a bit of shame.

“No way! He talks non-stop about you whenever we meet up back home.”

“The Ghost Zone I’m guessing.” Danny crossed his arms and smiled. Tessie nodded again.

“It’s kind of funny how much he thinks of you.” Youngblood was floating with crossed legs, resting his hands on his knees. “Halfa-Hero of the humans and ghosts, he says.” Tessie was smirking a bit. “He loves the fact that ya still talk to him.” Youngblood shrugged with a bit of flair, shaking his head. “He’s just as awkward as ever though, so he turns into a statue of shock every time you show up.” Danny snickered a little, then it turned into all out laughter.

“That actually explains a lot, Young! Thanks.” He smiled brightly, and for some reason Youngblood blushed a huge amount and started laughing himself.

“You’re pretty cool Phantom.”

“Fenton! Stop being a moron and get out of the car.” Danny’s eyes blurred and he had to blink a few times before coming back from the weird disassociation he gets whenever a clone gets startled. Dash was impatient and snarling.

“Awe shoot.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “Guess I gotta go…” His statement earned him a duet of discouraged moans from the two kids. “Sorry guys.” He shrugged. He took off, waving at the two younger ghosts.

“Later, Phantom!”

“Bye, Danny!”

Danny flew directly where his clone was without even having to think. It was like a magnetic pull and when they merged into a single Danny all the memories of a bored clone came in. He was sleeping in the back when Dash scared him half to death. Ha.

“We literally just got here Dash…” He grumbled, sliding out of the previously open door.

“Watch the name calling Mr. Baxter.” Mr. Lancer warned, walking out of a cabin. Danny grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder and dragged out his small travel bag. He purposefully bumped into Dash and shot him a dirty look as he walked inside the small cabin to the left of Mr. Lancer’s car. The air was crisp, but warm and it smelled _great_. After dodging a bag from Dash’s “accidentally” large swing over his shoulder, Danny took in the small plot of land he’d be calling home for the next four days.

A breeze picked up, making the trees sing their hollow tune with a gentle sway, harmonizing with the birds. The sun’s rays danced around on the ground at Danny’s feet and he took in a deep breath. He really did learn to love it in the woods, even if Dash was nearby. Mr. Lancer had the screen door of the cabin propped open and Danny kicked the inside wooden door open a little more to make room for his bag and him to fit through. Six beds in total was the first thing he noticed. There was a set of bunk beds on each blank wall of the main cabin and a small dresser on both sides of each set. Danny glanced around, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting from the two adjacent windows. There was a little desk and two chairs in that particular corner, and across from that was the bathroom area. Not a bad set up. Danny picked a random bunk bed and tossed his bag on the bottom bunk. He meandered to the bathroom area. Grand. It was like a mini locker room. Three separate showers, three stalls and three sinks. Thank. God.

“Pretty well-off place for a camp that needs renovation.” Danny mused aloud.

“This is the only cabin that hasn’t been damaged by the flooding.” Mr. Lancer made Danny jump a little as he replied.

“Oh.” Danny stretched a little and put his hands on his hips. “What are we doing now?” He asked, glancing at the teacher unpacking his things on the bunk nearby.

“As of right now we unpack, settle in, then report to the ladies at the front office.” Mr. Lancer stated. Danny nodded a little and turned to see Dash sitting by his bags looking at his phone. Danny rolled his eyes and slumped over.

“I guess that’s yours now?” He deadpanned at the jock’s back. Dash shrugged. “Dash…?”

“What?” Came a barked response.

“Are you claiming the bed _and_ my stuff or can I at least have my stuff back?” Dash shot Danny a scowl and stood up, moving himself and his bags to the remaining bunk on the other side of the room. Danny straightened up and gave Dash the most confused look he could muster. Okay…

“We have extra pillows and blankets in the bathroom closet.” Mr. Lancer announced. “It’ll get pretty cold up here at night.” He made his bed and set out his night clothes by the looks of it. Danny took one last look at the jock, still hunched over his phone and shrugged. The smaller teen made his own bed, snagged an extra blanket and organized his stuff. Danny never really unpacked his stuff whenever he traveled. The only things he’d take out of his bag were his toiletries. But with Dash around, he wasn’t going to even risk leaving out his deodorant. He kicked his pack under the bed and slung his backpack over his shoulders once again.

“Front office is that blue building up the hill from here, right?” He asked, heading out the door. Mr. Lancer looked up from whatever he was doing and nodded.

“Mrs. Powell should be here already. Just let her know we’re here, she’ll fill you in on what she wants done first.” The teacher went back to his previous project, papers by the looks of it. Hardly surprising. Danny didn’t bother to look at Dash as he left the cabin, closing the screen door behind him.

“Yeesh.” Danny grunted “This is a good start.” He dug out his phone from his back pocket and checked the time. 10:22. Danny scratched the side of his nose and placed his phone back. He rolled his shoulders a bit as he walked towards the blue building he spotted before. The door was open and he peeked in.

“Hello?” He called out.

“Hey!” Came a chipper response from the right. A blonde woman with long hair tucked up into a messy bun poked her head up from behind the desk. “You my lucky volunteer?” She stood up revealing her purple hoodie and dark blue jeans. She was almost as tall as the door. Danny shrugged with a smile

“One of them. The other is pouting over the lack of service on his phone back at the cabin.” He jutted his thumb behind him. Mrs. Powell, Danny assumed, snickered behind her hand.

“Pretty normal around here.” She raised her left shoulder and tilted her head. “I’m Jeanne Powell.” She offered her hand and Danny took it with a smile. The second new face today.

“Danny, Danny Fenton.” They shook hands for a second and Danny re-gripped his backpack straps.

“Nice to meet you Danny Fenton.” She smiled brightly, Danny just now spotted the small lip piercing. She had a couple of little flecks of silver above her eyebrow and three piercings on each ear.

“You too. Where should we start?” He asked tilting his head to the side a bit. Jeanne put on a show of contemplation.

“I’m thinking I should give a tour first, so let’s wait for “No Signal” and your teacher first.” Jeanne disappeared behind the desk again and Danny could hear the shuffle of papers. “There’s a bunch of legal stuff I have to take care of afterwards, but I’ll be back before the sun sets.” She poked her head up from behind the desk and her gaze shifted to behind Danny.

“Hello, Mr. Lancer!” She chirped.

“Hello, Mrs. Powell.” Mr. Lancer greeted, Dash was next to him, avoiding Danny’s gaze.

“Hi,” he greeted, ignoring Danny’s existence as usual. “I’m Dash Baxter.”

“I’m Jeanne Powell.” Jeanne smiled warmly nodding towards Dash. “I was just telling Mr. Fenton about some plans. I’m going to give you all a little tour and then I’ll be borrowing Mr. Lancer to pick up my partner Mrs. Venda.” Danny tried not to let his horror show at that little bit of news she forgot to mention. “You boys don’t have to do anything until we get back, so you can just hang out.” She smiled. Danny gave Mr. Lancer the calmest accusatory scowl he could muster. The teacher just gave him a knowing smirk and shrugged. _I hate you._ He thought at the man, and thought, or at least _hoped_ he saw a shudder.

“What was Mrs. Venda doing?” Dash asked. Jeanne looked to Dash

“She was covering some of the legal stuff with the land owners. There’s a lot of politics involved, but our volunteers don’t have to worry about it. You two probably have the easiest job for this project.” She gave a little wink and moved around the desk and small group to the door. “Come on. I’ll show you the grounds and go over some of the rules.” She waved her hand, gesturing the volunteers to follow. Danny practically bolted after her, trying his best to avoid glaring daggers at his English teacher.

“So, we’ve got five cabins, that fit six people in each. You three are in cabin 4.” She gestured ahead and pointed to the left and right buildings they walked past. “These are cabins 3 and 2. Cabin 1 is over there.” She gestured to a cabin to the left. “and cabin 5 for some reason is up here by the mess hall.” She shrugged a little gesturing to the long, two-story building with a balcony facing the east. “No idea why they’re numbered the way they are, but whatever.” The whole site was at a slight incline. “That’s the flagpole area. We need a new one.” She pointed to a square plot across the large pathway from the mess hall. “The flooding messed up the old wooden pole we wanted to replace for twenty years.” She then waved at a building with a red triangle flag hanging from the roof across from the flag pole square. “That’s the nurses office slash pharmacy for students that need medication, and above that is storage. No one really ever goes up to that balcony unless they’re really bored. It’s off limits to students during the season for obvious reasons, but you boys can go up there to scope out some of the damage.” She put her hands on her hips and faced the group with a small stomp of her right foot. “Okay, now time for some rules!” She barked with a playful tone. She must have been a camp counselor. Probably chief camp counselor with that energy. Danny smirked.

“We’ve got to stick together. Two folks at the least at all times. We’ve got walkie-talkies at the office, thirty mile radius and very expensive; don’t lose them.” Jeanne pulled her hoodie down and zipped up the zipper. The wind started picking up and more shadows covered the landscape behind her. “The mess hall’s left, or north, bottom levels have the most flood damage, I want everyone to avoid that area. The building is safe, but the floor is not. It’s old, I have no idea how the basement is, and I don’t want anyone stuck down there.” She crossed her arms and looked down in thought.

“What I want us to get done these next few days is cleaning in and around the cabins and prepping for the flood prevention stuff that’s coming in.” She loosened up and smiled again. “With just four cabins to clean up, I think you boys can handle it. As for right now, I just want you two to chill out, hang around; we got snacks and all the food necessities in the safe part of the mess hall, and that’s pretty much it. We’ll get to work as soon as we get back with my partner.” Jeanne motioned for the small group to follow her back to the office and dug around in the back for the walkie-talkies she mentioned. They were a lot smaller than Danny expected and she handed one to each of the group, while placing hers in her pocket.

“So, either Mr. Lancer or I will buzz you boys in a few hours when we’re close to camp. I’m on channel four all the time, so you don’t have to worry about the security code.” She took a breath and looked around, then checked her watch. “That’s about it.” She half sighed. “I think you two know how to handle yourselves. If not, the ranger’s station’s channel and other emergency numbers are in the desk and at the med center. Think you can handle a few hours to yourselves while we deal with all the legal nonsense?” She had her playful tone back and a smirk across her face that made Danny want to shake his head just to spite her. Instead, the dark haired boy simply nodded with a smirk of his own.

“See you in a few hours.” Dash stated with a nonchalant shrug.

“A’ighty!” Jeanne chirped and looked at Mr. Lancer. “Shall we?” Mr. Lancer nodded and let Jeanne go first.

“Behave yourselves.” He smiled and the door closed behind the two adults, leaving the baffled and annoyed teenage boys to themselves. As soon as the sound of the car’s engine faded Danny flopped on the ground and glared at the door.

“He did this on purpose.” He growled to no one.

“Ya think?” Dash snapped earning himself a rather unimpressed scowl from Danny. The other shrugged and left Danny in the office for a few moments until he decided staying on the floor was uncomfortable and pouting in a cabin on his bed was a better option.

“-and of course I’m stuck with Fenton for five hours, alone.” Dash’s conversation was overheard as Danny opened the door to the cabin, surprised he wasn’t locked out. Danny watched the griping other teen, who was most definitely talking to Kwan. “If I could I would, but that’s not possible.” Danny suddenly opted to vanish on Dash and just explore the woods. The idea was so sudden it made Danny stand up, grab his flashlight, thermos and walkie-talkie, pop a piece of gum in his mouth and promptly march out the door again.

“What did I get myself into?” Danny shouted to the sky, now growing a bit darker with cloud cover. He didn’t remember if the windows were open or not, but his level of caring was so low it was past being below sea level. Danny glanced around, walked a little ways from the cabin to where he suspected his footsteps couldn’t be heard, and vaulted into the sky as Phantom.

His flight didn’t last long until his ghost sense went off. He glanced around a bit and paused when he heard something shuffling loudly in the woods. Concern gripped at Danny and he descended. The air had a stiffness to it and his chest felt squeezed. The shuffling stopped abruptly before Danny could find the source and he nearly jumped out of his skin when a deer bolted past him.

“Well, that was uncalled for.” He muttered, and a voice echoed back to him. He spun around to see a little ghost of a fawn. His heart sunk a little at the sight, but the little thing just stared at him for a bit then continued on its way, whispering little echoes of the forest. Danny ran a hand through his snow white hair and sighed a bit. His hearing was a lot stronger out in the woods. He forgot about that. Danny then meandered about the forest floor, yakking with some of the spirits and ghosts nearby. After a while the sky began to rumble, and without warning dumped it’s contents on the poor boy.

“Ack! Great!” Danny barked at the sky before bolting back to camp. He changed back to Fenton, regretting it immediately because even with his ice powers, that rain was _freezing_ , and fumbled with the door nob until it opened. Danny then launched himself inside and slammed the door closed.

“Geez, Fenton!” Dash exclaimed “Give me a heart attack! You think you were going to melt??” Dash was propped up on his elbows reading a magazine on his bed; looking up at Danny with an annoyed expression.

“What? It’s cold!” Danny flailed and shook his head of some of the rain.

“Ack! You a dog now too!? At least do that in a shower stall!” Dash was now protecting his magazine like a small child.

“Woof.” Was Danny’s only response as he walked over to the closet and snagged a towel.

“We going to be this short with each other the whole time…?” Dash’s tone was flat and annoyed, much like Danny’s attitude.

“You started it.” Danny retorted. “Calling someone a moron right off the bat tends to make that person a bit crabby.” Danny ruffled the towel over his wet locks without really caring much, and shook his head to tame it. The rain did feel pretty good, but his clothes were sticking to him now, and with Dash basically staring him down, Danny couldn’t even use his little ghost quick-dry tricks. He yawned a bit and went over to his bag to get a change of clothes. The rain was still coming down, so Danny chose his sweatpants over the other pair of jeans he had packed, and snagged his NASA shirt. He basically ignored Dash, and went to one of the stalls for privacy.

“I’m not going to do anything, Fenton.” Dash hollered.

“I’ll trust that statement when the sun goes supernova.” Danny huffed his response and closed the stall door behind him. He heard Dash grunt and shuffle with his magazine, and proceeded to change out of his damp clothes and hang them up to dry. Rain water wasn’t too bad, so he’d probably wear at least his jeans again tomorrow. Danny then walked past Dash again, dug through his backpack for his required reading book and flopped on his bunk to read.

A few more hours dragged by and the sky was getting darker out the windows behind Dash. Danny put his book down and stretched a bit.

“They should be heading back by now…” Danny glanced at his backpack and grabbed the walkie-talkie. He ran his thumb over the surface of the black tech, smirking at the fact that it had a simple design with no extra lights, or a big Fenton logo plastered on it. “They better get here before I lose my mind.”

“Too late for that, Fenton. You’re already talking to yourself.” Dash was munching on a bag of chips on his bunk, fiddling with a camera by the looks of it.

“Point.” Danny shrugged and pocketed the now turned on device with the volume up a bit higher. He stood up and walked over to the windows and leaned on one of their sills. He had a big grin as he saw the clouds part revealing the stars as they started to blink through the atmosphere. “Nice.”

“What?” Dash turned his head and looked out the window near his bunk. “Oh, the sunset?” He looked at Danny, noting the boy’s awe and smirked. “This is nothing, you should see the sun _rise_.” He laughed. Danny gave him a confused look.

“This” he waved his hand at the bright orange and pink highlighted clouds with a neutral blue sky already speckled with flickering spots “Is nothing to you??” Dash snorted.

“If you wake up on time the sunrise will take your breath away.” Dash crossed his arms and leaned back, watching the sky from his spot as well. Danny tilted his head.

“Football practice I’m guessing.” Danny raised an eyebrow, Dash shook his head with a scoff.

“They don’t give us _any_ time to watch the sky, Fenton. We’re already getting back from running around the block by that time.” Danny scrunched up his nose and crossed his eyes in discomfort.

“Yikes. No thanks.” He huffed, rolling his shoulders. “So, when do you see the sunrises that ‘take your breath away’?” Danny asked with a bit of a mocking tone.

“Hunting.” Dash answered simply. “Deer hunting with my dad.” Danny shook his head in disbelief

“Do you sleep?” He exclaimed. “At all? Ever?” His expression must have been hilarious since Dash looked like he was about to burst out laughing.

“More than you do, Fenton.” He snorted. Danny rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive hand at the jock.

“I get sleep.” He paused “sometimes…” Dash sneered a bit at the bold faced lie.

“Sure you do, and those bags under your eyes are designer.” Danny made a noise in mock offence

“Psh! Please, these are Gucci.” Dash lost his battle with not bursting out in laugher and nearly fell off his bed. Danny nearly fell over too; did he just make Dash laugh?!

_“Come in boys! It’s Jeanne! You kill each other yet?”_ Dash and Danny both jumped at the loud voice from Danny’s pocket.

“They completely planned this together!” Danny huffed, yanking out the walkie-talkie.

“Tell Mr. Lancer his plan to have his most troubled students destroy each other in his absence failed miserably.” Danny blurted and almost slapped himself. A bout of laughter was heard and Danny knew it was Jeanne. Dash snorted.

“Wow, you killed my sister.” Came a different voice. “I’m guessing this is Daniel?”

“Danny.” He confirmed.

“Okay, Hi Danny. I’m Abigail. We’re almost to camp.”

“Roger that.” Danny answered out of habit.

“Roger that?” Dash mocked putting his hand to his mouth, “kssrt! This is Nerd One reporting, requesting vectors to the initial.”

“Don’t quote Pixar movies to insult me.” Danny huffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how to separate this into clear chapters, so I apologize for any confusion.


	3. Accidental Findings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a hole in the floor.

Abigail was shorter than her sister. She looked like she could take Dash in a fight and had a personality to match. Her no nonsense attitude clashed with her crude sense of humor, but Danny and her were already snickering like twelve-year-olds at anything someone said that sounded even remotely sexual by the time she settled in.

“So you two are going to be in the same cabin with two male teenage dweebs and an English teacher that’s going to referee them?” Danny snorted at Abigail’s expression when she held back from some sort of ridiculous response to his phrasing.

“I said I want all of us to stay together.” Jeanne responded, fiddling with some fairy lights she brought. She was definitely a camp counselor at some point. She was hanging them on the bottom bunk her and her sister were sharing. She stepped back to survey her work. “It’ll be easier to keep everyone safe in the same, safe cabin.” She looked back at Danny, perched on the top bunk of his own set, Dash taking over the bottom bunk with a set of head phones on and a different magazine gripping all of his attention.

“Whatever works.” Danny shrugged, still sitting cross legged at the edge of his bunk, observing the small crew below him like a crow watching people from his perch. He could vaguely hear the tones and bass of Dash’s music underneath him, slightly shifting every few moments to the beat. Mr. Lancer nearly marched to the bathroom area with tooth brush and paste in hand, passing Jeanne as she continued to decorate her bunk with little baubles. She put a lot of effort into decorating a space that she would only occupy for a few days. Danny tilted his head in amusement as she meticulously adjusted the garland of home-made looking yarn balls.

Abigail was more practical in her set up. Similarly to Danny, she kept most things in her bag aside from toiletries and planners she would always need access to. She had a list she was currently going over, the counting in her head displayed by her fingers. Whatever she was going over was apparently to her satisfaction though, despite her current recount. Danny’s attention snapped back to Mr. Lancer as he returned and placed his items back in their respectful places in a cup my his nightstand/clothes drawer. Jeanne was humming slightly to herself as she fixed up a quilt on her bed and grabbed her toothbrush for her turn in the dental hygiene ritual every one took part in before bed, though she brought a hair brush with her too. Danny mindlessly observed her multitasking as she brushed her teeth and let her hair down from her messy bun. It was longer than Danny initially thought, and had a kind of dark shimmer as she brushed though it and expertly braided the locks with a speed that had Danny blink in slight shock. His observation returned to Mr. Lancer as he flopped almost childishly on his bunk with a red pen in his mouth and began grading some papers. Jeanne, continuing in her humming composition, gracefully settled on top of her quilt and began going over something in her notebook.

Abigail gave him an amused look and he listlessly waved at her as she took her turn at the sink. Unlike her sister, she had short cropped hair and kind of just let it do it’s thing as she ran her fingers through any potential knots. Her hair was a darker color than Jeanne’s and had a kind of gold sheen to it if she tilted her head just right. Danny noticed another kind of gold shimmer on her left hand and noted the simple gold band decorating her ring finger.

“No engagement ring?” He blurted out the question before his mind had time to register the unusual question. His expression must have shown his realization Abigail looked amused. Abigail gave her gold ring a look-over with a pleasant expression.

“Never been a fan of flashy jewelry,” She answered tilting her hand back and forth, playing with the reflection of light from the band. “My hubby offered, but I was against it. Me feeling it was way too expensive was another factor.” She gave Danny a wink. “I’m outside working with my hands too much anyways.”

“I wouldn’t trust those boys of yours around something like that either. Rowdy little gremlins.” Jeanne huffed, looking up from her notebook. Clearly, she wasn’t very pleased with the aforementioned gremlins.

“Interesting thing for a camp counselor to say.” Danny pointed out with an amused eyebrow raised. Abigail snorted.

“I don’t mind teenagers.” Jeanne stated, not moving from her position. “It’s the gremlin age that drives me crazy.”  
“What, pray tell, is this gremlin age?” Danny asked with a terrible posh accent that had Jeanne in a state of poorly held back laughter. She took a breath and let out an escaped laugh

“From birth to about ten.” She answered, still recovering a little. “Sometimes they’re still gremlins by twelve, but they at least understand the basics of human decency by that point.” She made a face “Most of the time anyways.” She finished, going back to her notebook. Danny flopped backwards onto his mattress and stared at the ceiling, severely lacking in the glow-n-the-dark stars department. He scowled a bit in disappointment before rolling over to grab his phone and check the time. 10:30. If he remembered the schedule right they’d be up at around six or seven. The women seemed lenient enough to not have them wake up at the butt-crack of dawn, but Danny didn’t want to risk being a crab in the morning with another potential crab to deal with at the same time. He listened in to the other’s movements and noticed the lack of sounds coming from below him. Dash sounds like he already crashed.

The adults murmured their goodnights and Danny replied with his own lack of enthusiasm and the lights went out. Danny’s hearing doubled with the lack of light in the room. It would be maybe an hour before he adjusted to the different sounds enough to actually fall asleep. There was a strong enough breeze to make the trees sing outside the open window, the crickets were joining the frogs with a chorus of their own. The soft breathing of his companions mingled in well enough to create a sort of white-noise for Danny to zone out to. The whispers however, were a different story. Danny was already chilled, but was too proud to bundle up in the blankets beneath him. He was able to at least zone out after the first thirty-or-so minutes, but his senses were on alert. Danny huffed impatiently and rolled around enough to get one blanket on top of him as he cocooned himself. He sighed and hoped his ears would stop picking out small sounds of the night life outside, one was definitely a raccoon. He recognized the sound of those strange little paws as they scratched against the ground below the window. Sneaky little devils made the mistake of getting caught in his garage before, and hunting that creature down without ghost powers was a nightmare.

The memory of this little family adventure was pretty funny now, though, and the reminders made him relax and smirk to himself as he went through the details before finally settling into a gentle sleep.

“Well…” Mr. Lancer paused, putting his hand on his hip and wiping at his brow. The elder man was cleaning out the office, moving furniture around to check for water damage while the boys replaced the soil along the main pathway that turned into a temporary creek. “This could have been a lot worse.” He muttered hearing the loud arguing between his ‘most troubled students’ over who looked the most in shape and it’s importance. He had no idea by what grounds their argument was, but they’d both make an excellent addition to the debate team with their fervor.

“I’m just saying, you could use a good work out ethic, Fenton.” Dash flexed making the other roll his eyes with arms crossed and a bored expression. “You haven’t changed much, -er.” Dash paused “Aside from _that_ move.” He stopped their arguing trek and waved his hand around Danny’s form “What was that? How’d you learn to do it?” Danny huffed and grabbed another bag of soil, a bit effortlessly, Dash noticed with confusion.

“My family fights ghosts Dash, you can figure it out.” He grumbled. Dash picked up two bags of soil, almost as if to assert his place as the most in-shape making Danny gag.

“Your mom a black belt or something?” Dash trotted, obviously showing off.

“Eighth degree.” Danny stated simply, dumping the bag of its contents and spreading the soil out evenly. Dash sputtered.

“W-what, seriously?” Danny looked up at the jock amused.

“Forget that little tid-bit? Pretty sure that’s why the mayor wanted her and dad to protect the town when Wa- um,” Danny caught himself. “That sheriff type ghost invaded with his cop looking lackeys.” Danny waved his hand about dismissively looking away from Dash. Dash scratched his head a bit in confusion.

“That one’s kind of a blur, actually.” He confessed “I know what you’re talking about though.” He confirmed before dumping his own bags. Danny mentally slapped himself, of course it was mostly a blur. He was possessed by Walker during the majority of the invasion anyway.

“She’s pretty kickass.” Danny chuckled a bit to himself as he brushed excess dirt from his knees. “You should have seen her when we got lost in the woods. It was kinda scary.” He stood up straight and rolled his shoulder. Dash had his eyes on him and moved his arms towards himself in a motion to continue. He blinked a couple of times and stared Danny down.

“Continue Fenton! I’m hooked! Explain!” Danny sighed and mentally slapped himself again. Of course Dash would be interested in this kind of story. He goes hunting… Danny also paused a moment, realizing this is the most he’s known about Dash since crashing into his closet Freshman year. He shrugged and figured telling the story about his mom kicking ghost tail during one of Vlad’s more elaborate plans, was alright. Of course he didn’t include that part, but the story killed plenty of time while Dash asked some questions. One being “the heck is Fenton Jerky??” making Danny burst out laughing at the disgusted look on Dash’s face.

“And then we borrowed Mr. Masters helicopter and got home.” Danny arched his back and was satisfied with the little pops from his tense spine. “No idea how he handled those animal ghosts, but he’s fine now, so, obviously he got out without a problem.”

“Figures our mayor fights ghosts as much as your family does.” Dash huffed.

“Well, they did study the paranormal together in college.” Danny stated nonchalant.

“Now everything makes sense!” Dash snapped his finger with a look of glee. He must have been pretty curious about the mayor and Danny’s parents for a while now. Danny was a little shocked at the enthusiasm from Dash as his mystery, whatever it was, was solved.

“Glad I could clear that up for you?” Danny tried, he straightened his back and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He put his hands on his hips and glanced around to see where else the extra soil could go. He scanned all the marks set up where the most damage was done and spotted the square for the flag pole nearby. Dash was finishing up the rest of the path to the mess-hall and they’d probably finish up the smaller paths tomorrow. He shrugged and picked up his last bag; heading to the flag pole. He fiddled around a bit and followed some written instructions to help support the new metal pole. He dug around some loose area to try and pack the hole’s wall. His nails caught onto something hard and cold and he blinked. He dug a bit more and unearthed a strange looking stone? Maybe?

“What’d you find?” The voice behind him made him flinch, but he relaxed recognizing Jeanne’s shadow.

“Some rock?” Danny shrugged pulling it from its home. It turned out to be a trio of small bones tied together with string. “Nope, creepy bone triangle.” Danny cringed “Nice…”

“Oof.” Jeanne kneeled next to him and looked his find over. “Probably an old tradition. Or superstition.” She shrugged. “You can keep it if you want.” Danny shot her a disgusted grimace and she giggled

“Or, and here’s a great idea, I could just re-bury it.” Danny dug a small hole and promptly buried the bones again. “Where creepy bone triangles belong in my opinion.” He scrunched up his face a bit and slapped the top of the newly disturbed dirt. Jeanne laughed a bit and patted his shoulder.

“The eighties were a different time for sure, especially when it came to camping.” She laughed again at his conflicted expression. “It’s getting pretty hot now, so we’re taking a break pretty soon, then you boys can start cleaning inside where there’s air conditioning!” She beamed. Danny would have returned her enthusiasm if not for the electricity going through his spine.

“I’ll finish up here and join you guys in the mess hall then.” He managed a smile and waved as Jeanne nodded and trotted towards the hall. He gave the spot of dirt a look as he tried to understand his complex emotional state. Creepy bone triangle tied by some old looking hemp rope buried at a flag pole at a kids camp sounded exactly like the plot point of an eighty’s horror movie. He didn’t like the similarities one bit and was torn between leaving bones where they belonged, and letting his curiosity run rampant and letting himself look into the nitty-gritty details. They were small bones, so probably not human… hopefully not human. He shuddered and finished setting up the square hole next to the little charm’s grave. It’ll be ready for a cement pour and setting the base for the flag pole after lunch. He’d probably have to enlist help from Dash to pull that off if they were the ones that needed to do it, but Jeanne mentioned others coming later on, so it could be left for them. Danny sighed and wiped his brow of sweat again, noting that his bangs were plastering to his forehead. He raked his fingers through and pushed his hair back, wondering if he’d look like a greaser if this keeps up. Danny gave the little grave one last judgmental look before turning away from it, determined to forget it’s existence.

The others were gathering their food, a giant sub sandwich apparently. Each of them took their turns grabbing a few pieces of the sandwich, a bag of chips and a drink. Danny was tempted to grab a soda, but decided against it. It was too hot, just grab that ice-cold water bottle to replace the empty one he had polished off earlier.

They sat at one of the picnic tables set up on the mess hall balcony and Danny stared off into the valley. A shudder tore up his spine after only a few minutes and he nearly choked on his water. Dash laughed at his scramble to catch his breath again, gaining a side angled kick from Danny.

“Boys…” Mr. Lancer warned. They both glared away from each other, and Danny used this as an opportunity to scan the area for whatever made his spine feel like ice. Nothing. Just an expanse of small mountains as they teetered off to the flat lands with the city on the horizon. Danny felt colder, a bizarre chill despite the sweat trailing down his back.

“Well, I’m all set for another round of work!” Jeanne’s chipper announcement made Danny flinch. Dash snorted at his reaction, clearly with a snide remark on his tongue, but he held back. Lancer was right there. That didn’t stop Danny from scowling daggers at the jock though. The others slowly deserted the spot, picking up their dining materials and leaving instructions for the boys when they were ready to clean up. A subtle hint to do so quickly, obviously, but Danny stayed rooted. That chill was still stabbing needles in his spine and he wanted to find the source, or at least the right direction. Dash was studying Danny as he started picking up. Danny was oblivious as Dash’s gaze hardened with questions as he scanned the smaller boy’s tensed up form.

“What’s got you so on edge?” Dash asked, feigning nonchalance. There was no response. “NERD!” Danny winced and nearly fell off the bench. He scowled darkly.

“What do you want?” He growled defensively. Tone it down Fenton, he’s not out to kill you. He scorned himself.

“The hell has you so jumpy?” Dash scowled, ignoring the way Fenton’s eyes were. He looked like he was just jumped by a cougar.

“What do you care?” Danny grumbled bitterly. He stood up, grabbed the leftovers and pushed past Dash. Dash snarled at the nerd’s retreating back and rolled his eyes before snatching his portion of their clean up to-do list.

They awkwardly found each other in the kitchen, Danny still closed off and Dash still snarling. They ignored each other as they tried to complete the tasks of putting everything in their place. Danny took care of the dishes while Dash took out the trash. Dash may have set up unintentional traps for Danny to trip over and Danny may have accidentally splashed dirty dish water on Dash’s shoes, effectively soaking them through.

While the pranks soured their moods as well as entertaining them, the breaking point wasn’t a prank, but rather the aftermath. Dash snickered as Danny headed towards a sneaky tripping trap, but flinched in shock at the loud crack and yelp of pain.

“Fenton?!” He spun around to see Danny splayed on the floor, groaning when trying to lift himself from the hole now swallowing his right leg. Without thinking, Dash bolted over and helped Fenton wiggle his leg out. The nerd obviously needed to recover from shock from either the hole that opened up from under him or the fact that Dash Baxter was _helping him up_. Dash rolled his eyes at himself. Yeah, it’s probably the latter, and in a negative way. Fenton was barely on his feet when more of the floor gave in and Dash had to basically yank the poor nerd away from the now gaping maw in the doorway between the kitchen and the rest of the mess hall. The boys stumbled a bit, death-gripping each other’s arms and staring at the damage that was still rumbling. So much for the mess hall…

“Are you boys okay!?” The out-of-breath voice jolted the two’s attention from the creaking floorboards left over, to Jeanne. She stared at the boys and then to the disaster, one little stumble, exposed. “Good lord…” She walked up to the teens, who were now separated, and patted their shoulders as they parted ways for her. “I knew the mess hall was somewhat bad, but I didn’t think it went this far.” One could feel the disappointment coming off of her. She rubbed at the back of her neck as she surveyed the damage and let out a few noises conveying her disgust. “That’s a lot of unchecked water damage…” She grimaced. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned around and checked on the two oddly quiet boys.

“And some unchecked damage here too.” She noted, gesturing to Danny’s leg. He tilted his head in confusion before looking down, seeing a beautiful collection of scratches, maybe a gash or two, dancing up his leg.

“Oh, perfect.” He grumbled, stopping himself from glaring at Dash, but could sense the other’s discomfort from across the small entryway. Was his toned-down bully feeling guilt? How strange. And this was coming from a ghost hybrid.

“Come on, tough guy.” Jeanne held on to Danny’s left arm and helped guide him out of the kitchen with Dash quietly in tow. Danny made quick note of how Dash looked a little queasy, subtly holding around his stomach. Did he get sick at the sight of blood? Oh, this will be fun to rub in his face later. Not literally because gross, but there’s a plethora of possibilities to annoy the crap out of the jock with.

If their situation could get any worse, however, Danny wouldn’t be surprised. This seemed to be the way the dominoes wanted to fall apparently. There was a storm coming, and it was coming quick. Where the heck did all these clouds even come from? It looked clear as clear could get when they were eating earlier. A little stuffy maybe, but the breeze was fine. How’d the weather take such a turn so quick? Danny glared at the clouds bubbling above the small group. Blame the mountains, just do that. Even meteorologists do that according to his earth science class.

“Yikes, we might have to call it a day.” Jeanne muttered, she glanced at the boy next to her, who shrugged. “Bad enough you got hurt on the job, but with that collapse behind us and the storm above, I’m good with just calling it quits.” She headed to the main office building and the other two adults joined them on the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some parts inspired by true events: including raccoons clawing in the attic and buildings going "NOPE" due to poor maintenance covered up by morons that thought "this is no big deal psssh!"
> 
> Lancer has the patience of a saint, and the boys are trying. Not well, but they're trying.
> 
> (Lot of you liked Danny interacting with other ghosties and playing with YoungBlood <3 I had fun writing it so I'm glad the mood transferred to my readers!!)


	4. Trouble Brews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a storm brewing.

“Dang, kid!” Abigail blurted at the sight of Danny’s leg “The heck happened?”

“You didn’t hear anything substantial?” Danny quipped before he could stop himself. Dash snickered a bit at his sarcastic tone. Two for two making the stranger called Dash laugh. This was beginning to concern Danny as to whether or not the bully was possessed or something.

“I was knee deep in paper work with my music blaring…” Abigail crossed her arms and looked down in deep thought.

“I’m going to take a guess and say that that large rumbling noise earlier was not the thunder I assumed it was.” Mr. Lancer piped in while gathering, what looked like medical supplies, if the one hundred percent alcohol and bandages were anything to go by. This is gonna suck.

“Brace yourself Baxter, there’s more blood.” Danny prodded earning him a seething glare and a mouthing of various threats that only Danny could see. He’s apparently going to pay for that later, but the blonde’s face going pale was worth it. Abigail was kneeling in front of Danny and cleaning the scratches and one long, but staggered gash up his leg. The deepest part was right above his ankle and he had to bite down on the heel of his palm in order to not make any sort of noise to give Dash ammo later. It stung like a monster. It was comparable to a point-blank ectoshot to bare skin, goddamn. Danny nodded to Abigail when she asked something akin to: are you okay. Way to lie, Danny.

“Did a number on you, but judging by the disaster that is the entrance to the mess hall, you’re lucky you didn’t fall two stories.” Jeanne muttered. “We’ll have to look into more possible hidden damage in some of the older buildings.” She started pacing, much to the amusement to Danny and her sister. Apparently, according to the good humored eye roll from Abigail, this was a regular thing.

“She paces when planning.” Abigail stage whispered to Danny as she treated the gash with medicine and dressed the wound. Danny flinched a bit as she wrapped his leg up. Some of the bandage would unfortunately brush against the smaller scratches whenever he moved.

“By the looks of things you won’t need stitches, but we’re going to have to keep an eye on that gash of yours.” Abigail gave her handy work a hearty slap, making the teenager yelp.

“That wasn’t necessary…” Danny whined. Dash now fully laughing, but having the decency to at least _look_ like he was holding it back. Danny scowled, but the blonde merely shrugged with a huge grin that just begged Danny to punch off.

“Yeah? C’mere and let me show you how funny it really is.” Danny threatened moving to stand, but his leg protested and his head vehemently disagreed with that move and the poor kid nearly face planted if not for Abigail’s quick response.

“Easy does it.” She soothed as Danny shook his head, holding onto her balancing arm with a death grip. She winced and he hurriedly let go.

“Ah! I’m sorry. Don’t know what happened…” Danny tried to sound coherent, but even sounded drunk to himself.

“You clearly need to relax Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Lancer crossed his arms and looked at his young charge with concern. “The blood must have rushed to your head from getting up to fast.”

“Temper probably helped too.” Dash teased.

“Shut up Dash.” Danny grumbled impatiently. He regained his balance, but that gnawing at the back of his skull was back with a vengeance. Something was here. Why wasn’t his ghost sense going off? Everything else fit the bill of a pre-ghost attack, so where was the ghost?

A crash of lightning and thunder startled the whole group, Jeanne letting out a terrified yelp and covering her ears, while Danny felt an arm help him keep balance as he teetered from the blinding light.

“From Watch to Warning!” Mr. Lancer let out one of his famous ‘curses’ and Danny registered that whoever was keeping him upright let him go.

“Was that just on us?” Dash managed to speak at a normal decibel, but even he looked rattled.

“I’m blind…” Danny muttered and rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to register that he wasn’t center stage in the dang spotlight.

“That was just outside.” Jeanne muttered, going towards the door. Everyone else followed; including a still semi-blind Danny being dragged along by whoever wanted to just grab him and pull him along. “Oh no…” Jeanne’s little whine signaled something got damaged. Either it is black as pitch outside or Danny’s eyes were permanently damaged.

“Still blind.” Danny complained “What’s happening?”

“After all your hard work too.” Jeanne sighed.

“BLIND!” Danny barked, jolting the four blurs in front of him. They looked like they faced him so he gestured at his eyes and waved them in front of him aggressively. “What’s going on?!”

“That flag pole area you rebuilt is decimated my dude.” Dash answered. Danny’s frown fell.

“Awe man! Are you kidding me?!” Danny flailed “Tell me he’s just trying to freak me out…”

“Sorry, Danny.” Abigail patted the opposite arm Dash flanked. “But Dash is right, it’s a pretty big mess now.” Danny blinked enough to see better than earlier. The wood was splintered across the whole main road area, some still on fire, and his perfect set-up was turned into something that looked like a hyper-active dog dug up.

“Great…” Danny grumbled. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck in defeat. “Do we have any replacement materials?” He tried, but the whole group could probably use a break anyways. During this entire conversation the sky growled and flashed in an atmospheric temper tantrum. The rain started to fall on the five in small droplets.

“We’ll worry about everything to do with the camp when the storm is-” Echoing claps of thunder interrupted her and she glared at the sky until the rumbles started to die down. “When the storm is over.” She finished with an annoyed expression. “Right now our priorities are you two.” She gestured everyone back inside the main office building. They all diligently followed as the sky decided now was the time to dump its contents. In a matter of moments the water coming off the roof overflowed from the gutters in a series of waterfalls.

“Is all of our progress going to be destroyed, or can we salvage any of this…?” Abigail groaned, dragging her long fingers down her face in despair.

“We went through all of the options of a sturdy set up for the outdoor pathways. The gutter system Dash and Danny made along the paths should hold up.” Jeanne stated, if she had glasses on Danny imagined her pushing them up her nose to accent to fact statements.

“Should, is not a comforting word, sis…” Abigail deadpanned. “We also didn’t factor in freak lightning strikes.” Her posture worsened into an impatient slouch as she stared down her little sister in what looked like a challenge.

After a little more than an hour, but seemed to drag on the whole afternoon, the torrential downpour faded into a more delicate rainfall. Danny stood from his splayed out pose on the floor and dared a peek outside. Well, at least Jeanne was right about the gutter system. Honestly Danny had no idea what he was doing when digging around with Dash earlier, he just followed the plans they were given. Good plans apparently, even without the turf flattener part. They still lost a lot of soil by the looks of it though. Danny shifted his weight to lean on the open doorframe and let out a contemplative hum. His eyes caught something drifting under the deck and limped over to the other side to catch whatever it was.

Picking up the item, he grimaced when noticing exactly what it was. He was tempted to drop in back into the little river and let the ugly crafting project drift down the mountains and maybe get buried somewhere. Dash apparently had other plans when he snatched up the object, effectively giving Danny what felt like a freaking heart-attack.

“For someone so damn big, you should at least make some kind of noise!” Danny barked. “Stop sneaking up on me, geez.” He clutched at his shirt and pressed down, trying to calm his heartbeat down from going a million miles a minute.

“For someone that hunts ghosts, you shouldn’t be so jumpy.” Dash raised an amused eyebrow; Danny sneered. “What’s this supposed to be? I know you’re bored like the rest of us, but I didn’t know you were this creepy.” Dash observed the ornament with scrutiny and obviously felt as weirded out by it as Danny was.

“I am extremely creepy, you should know this by now.” Danny managed to snatch the bone ornament back; probably because Dash wanted nothing to do with it. “It’s not mine.” Danny wound up his arm, and pitched the thing into the woods behind the building with all his ‘normal human’ might. Well, he might have let his natural strength show, but Dash didn’t pay that much attention to his favorite punching bag.

“Nice pitch.” Dash whistled, okay… Maybe he paid more attention than Danny figured.

“Don’t compliment me.” Danny frowned as he side-glanced the blonde. “It’s weird.” Dash snorted, and went back inside. Danny _was_ pretty bored… Now what? The signal in this office was garbage, so he couldn’t play any games on his phone if he wanted to…

Danny froze. His phone! He patted around his pockets to find the tell tale bump of his phone. He felt nothing.

“GREAT!” He shouted to the sky in frustration.

“What’s wrong?” Jeanne poked her head out of the now propped open door to let the cool air in. Danny turned to face her sheepishly.

“I think I lost my phone.” Danny admitted, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“That’s no good!” Jeanne announced “Where did you have it last? We can call it.” She suggested

“Do any of you have my number?” Danny tilted his head and Jeanne crossed her arms, looking down in thought

“Oh dear…” She muttered. That answered that question. She called into the office to the other three. “Do any of you have Danny’s cell number?”

“Well shoot, no. I don’t. Why?” Abigail’s voice came out. The lack of response from the others answered enough for Danny to whine pathetically.

“I lost my phone.” He answered Abigail’s question.

“Way to go Fenton.” Dash called back

“Shut up Dash.” Danny snarled.

“Boys.” Mr. Lancer warned. There was a pregnant pause until Danny’s option listing thoughts were interrupted by Dash.

“Yeah, I have it.” Dash grumbled in annoyance.

“You have my phone?” Danny limped back to the doorway and scowled

“No, nerd. I didn’t steal your stupid phone.” Dash snapped back

“Mr. Baxter.” Another warning, but with a more stern tone this time. Tread lightly Mr. Baxter, you’re in trouble. Danny stared at Dash with an expectant glower.

“I have your number.” Dash was trying too hard to sound nice on purpose. Mr. Lancer rubbed at his temple with an irritated sigh. Danny was flabbergasted, and it showed apparently, because Dash waved his phone for emphasis

“Fitness buddies, remember?” He looked pretty annoyed having to explain it. Danny mentally kicked himself. Right. Dash put his phone on speaker and everyone heard the dial tone. Danny poked his head out into the rain to try and hear his ringtone.

“Nothing in here…” Jeanne muttered.

“I think I might have checked it outside the kitchen deck.” Danny muttered “I put it in my pocket right after and we picked up lunch.” The realization hit Danny like a brick to the face, or one of Dash’s punches…

“It’s probably in the kitchen…” He hid his face in his hand. He didn’t want to go out in the rain, but that phone was expensive! He raised the money himself! He’s going to just have to deal with it.

“Buddy system Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Lancer called out. An annoyed, grumbling form came out and Danny was about ready to shoot Mr. Lancer with an ectoshot. Just a little. Like a static shot. That’s all.

They trudged out into the rain with an umbrella supplied by Mr. Lancer apparently. Danny overheard Abigail teasing the man about forcing the two boys to work together sarcastically. Something along the lines of “Oh, yeah, forced camaraderie among teenage boys always ends so well.” He didn’t care enough to hear the response from the man.

“You better make it quick Fenton.” Dash growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the heads up @ArtisticVicu  
> ;w;
> 
> Wasn't PLANNING on updating chapter 4 early but this site forced my hand. Enjoy my dear readers. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. Thank you for selecting this dumpster-fire. 
> 
> I wrote most of this in November 2020. 
> 
> Short sweet and to the point I guess. Enjoy the ride, my dear readers. I have no idea what I'm doing.


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